STAFF EDIT: Making service cool

Each year, Boston University’s Community Service Center sends hundreds of student volunteers on its annual Alternative Spring Break program to locations all over the United States and one to Puerto Rico, to lend a helping hand to a community in need. Some projects dealing with outreach to poverty-stricken, uneducated children; others focusing on homelessness and housing, pet adoption shelters and HIV and AIDS, among many other social issues.

This year, ASB had its first-ever online registration, attracting the attention of hundreds of student volunteers for the week of service in March. Students will travel by public transportation, airplane and 12-passenger vans to their destination of choice either based on location or the service being done at a specific site. In a week, the students will accomplish 17,160 hours of service, or about $137,280 of work (based on Massachusetts’ minimum wage).

While the rest of us students spend another cushy week at home with mom’s lasagna, romping around the Allston bar scene while our classmates skip town or maybe even chasing after the cameras of MTV’s Spring Break in some exotic beach-side locale, these kids will be giving back &-&- and making it look cool in doing so.

A week of service, however, does come at a price. Trips start at $325 &-&- a reasonable amount to cover a week of food, housing and transportation to and from the site &-&- but trips by plane are $675, a little steep considering accommodations are often on the floors of a church rather than a hotel bed. And while higher costs might turn some off from volunteering, attractive destinations may draw others on board for the project. No matter the outcome, considering the price and today’s economy, BU students looking to volunteer may consider adopting the “charity begins at home” mentality and chose to pocket the hundreds, or even donate it in order to see both their dollar go further even after the work is done.

It’s hard to dispute the amount of “good” ASB does from March 6 to 14 for the cities and towns it invades all over the U.S. and Puerto Rico. But, what is often overlooked is what is accomplished here on campus at BU both before and after the week of service.

ASB is one of the CSC’s more popular volunteer programs. It inspires hundreds to get involved, and thousands more to, at the very least, think about it, either through ASB, the CSC or elsewhere. Whether this year’s volunteers attract more the next is irrelevant. The amount of attention drawn to the importance and impact of community service, however, is worthy of applause, as is the upcoming week’s hard work.

Congrats, ASB. Here’s to another week of successful service, and just as important, another year of promoting the personal and communal benefits of service.